On the lookout for Crane Mtn. trail

With no little effort, I experienced the Crane Mountain Lookout on Sunday.

Wanting to do a short hike to top off my weekend, I headed south on Ferndale Road until I came to a Y, where I turned right on Route 498.

According to what I had read, the trailhead would start six miles up the mountain and provide a view of Swan and Flathead lakes.

Except the trail was no where to be found, at least initially.

The instructions said the trail was gated and led a few hundred feet to a rocky outcropping. Not seeing it from the road, I drove another 1.5 miles to a gated trailhead, and hiked that until I decided it wasn’t the right one. Turns out it was primarily a snowmobile trail, so I turned around and came back down the mountain still looking for the right trailhead.

Still no success, but I don’t give up easily. I turned around and headed back up the mountain driving slowly. Finally, I saw a narrow opening off to the left with a dark brown numbered sign in the distance. There was no gate, however. There was enough room in the pullout to park my car. A mound of dirt covered the trailhead, which numbered 498A. The instructions said to follow Road 498A, but there was no mention of a trail number.  I figured this must be it.

I made my way over the mound of dirt and started down an overgrown pathway. Farther down the path, tree growth covered the entire pathway forming a canopy. A few trees had fallen over the trail as well, which required climbing over or under them. After that, the trail became clear for a time, but soon after growth appeared. I believe this trail hadn’t been cleared in quite a while.

Tredging onward I saw a rocky outcropping on the left and right. This was it. I climbed up and noticed Swan River and Swan Lake. Flathead Lake was probably out there somewhere too, although the view is partially obstructed by pine trees.

The instructions were right about one thing. Be careful on the backside of the rocky outcropping as a slip could send one perilously over the edge to an unknown fate.

I took a number of photos on both sides of the trailhead and headed back to my car. It took me 12-15 minutes to get back.

Once back at the trailhead, I looked around and found a sign near the road that had fallen over. The pole that was holding it had rotted, which I found out as it fell apart when I picked it up. Nonetheless I placed the sign next to the road where it could more easily be seen.

It made my feel good that I found the lookout trail. With that sense of accomplishment, I headed back down the mountain.